Not all of these are equally important and it may be that some
processing time could be saved by restricting the facility (on a
temporary basis!!) to just the first of these.

The fourth aspect is not necessary (we should be able to check
our own solutions!!). We can survive without the grading - and
will soon discover our own (subjective) grading when we tackle it.
The hints are part of the learning process for some but many seem
not to be able to take full advantage of them anyway. There is
another site with a step solver which allows one to find out WHY
the next move is suggested and for those still in the earlier
stages of learning that may be preferable to spending a lot of
time on a hint that is not understood.

What we really need is a method for quick entry of a puzzle (and
the Daily Sudoku method with entry of zero and automatic tab
to the next field is the quickest, neatest method!). Let us not be
deprived of the core facility just because the other aspects are
not able to be provided at present.

The facility is, after all, called DRAW (not GRADER, HINTER or SOLVER)
and perhaps what it says on the label is what we really want!

I have been away for a couple of days and was saddened
on my return to note the temporary withdrawal of the
Draw facility - due to overuse.

Hey Alan

I have to change my hosting arrangements and then the problem will go away. I was also away for a few days, and in reponse to complaints from the hosting providers, had to disable this in order for them not to kill the whole site in my absence.

Actually what you say about function makes sense -- I suspect that part of the overuse problem is because it gets used for things that I didn't intend or anticipate (like interactive solving of puzzles, clicking the draw button after every number, thereby running the code very many times). Unfortunately seperating the components is probably not a trivial thing to do, but I will think whether I can do it quickly. More votes would likely speed me on my way